Staff Reporter

Drew Forrest The fascinating African National Congress document targeting an “ultra-left tendency” in the labour movement and the South African Communist Party is the latest broadside in a decades-old battle in the South African left over the role of trade unions. It revives conflicts in and outside the union movement in the 1980s between “populists” […]

CHRISTOF MALETSKY, Windhoek | Wednesday THE Namibian government yesterday pumped N$6-million into the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) to avert a strike at the national broadcaster. The board, management and Namibia Public Workers Union (Napwu) subsequently announced salary increases of between 5,5% and 14% for the 500-odd employees and the looming strike was officially called off. […]

Rural women say the government has failed them on land reform Tara Turkington Diminutive yet fiery Emily Tjale was one of the first to take the stage at a historic assembly of 250 rural women, who gathered to denounce and mobilise against landlessness in Kimberley at the weekend. Tjale is a member of the community […]

David Macfarlane Fundamental conflicts over teachers’ working conditions remain unresolved, despite the averting this week of a strike that would have disrupted the matric exams now under way. The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) remains firm in its refusal to sign the public sector wage agreement. And future negotiations involving teachers and the government […]

REVIEW David Shapshak Quicken 2001 Deluxe, about R429 Once Microsoft has its eye on your particular segment of the software market, you might as well pack up your bags and go home, many in the information technology industry believe. Like its now dominant Internet Explorer, through which Microsoft took on Netscape and won, the feeling […]

Born in Trinidad, he had a breakdown at Oxford but went on to build a reputation as a world-class novelist. More recently, his personal life has come under scrutiny, his views have drawn accusations of racism and homophobia, and he has found himself at the centre of a literary feud. Maya Jaggi on an outspoken […]

IRANIAN director Tahimeh Milani’s film “Hidden Half” is among the favourites to take first prize in the Cairo film festival, critics said this week. The woman director’s latest work has been widely applauded and won high praise in Arab newspapers after its screening in the festival which opened on October 9, said Jordanian reviewer Najeh […]

open letter A letter from the International Press Institute to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell Dear Mr Secretary, The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, is becoming increasingly dismayed at attempts by the US State Department to influence the flow of news in the Middle […]

Your article “Draft policy for GM foods” (October 5) implies that we should feel safe about this highly contentious technology as we have a genetically modified organisms (GMO) Act in place. The GMO Act came into effect on December 1 last year. But before these regulations were even in place, at least 20% of the […]

Michael Hartnack Zimbabwe’s in-your-face Department of Information was at it again last week, fulminating on everything from first lady Grace Mugabe’s right to keep secret her abysmal London University law exam results, to the alleged conspiracy of whites behind South Africa’s planned deportation of Zimbabwean farm workers. Playing the race card, an unnamed “authoritative source” […]

ATHLETICS Martin Gillingham Let me tell you a true story. There’s this national leader who approaches the president of a global sports body and pleads him to stage his world championships in his country. “But you haven’t got a stadium big enough,” replies the sports boss. “I know,” says the politician, “but if you give […]

HOWARD BARRELL, BARRY STREEK AND MARIANNE MERTEN, Johannesburg, Cape Town | Friday CAPE Town mayor Peter Marais faces expulsion from the Democratic Alliance and the party’s deputy leader, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, will face disciplinary action if they fail to back down in their confrontation with DA leader Tony Leon. Leon is willing to risk the […]

After taking over the leadership of the New National Party, Marthinus van Schalkwyk developed a reputation for pragmatism and common sense. He saved his dying party by taking it into the Democratic Alliance. He also accepted, apparently without complaint, the necessity for Tony Leon who was the strength behind the Democratic Party’s phenomenal increase in […]

Themba Khumalo Mankosiphethe Ntuntuma is an elderly woman. She does not know her own age. She lives in the impoverished village of Qhaka, a sparsely populated village near Port St Johns, Eastern Cape. She has never been employed. Her life has always been misererable. That was until last Saturday when the Department of Water Affairs […]

Kenya proved they aren’t always the whipping boys Peter Robinson Of all the international captains currently tramping through world cricket, easily the most engaging is Kenya’s Maurice Odumbe. Put it this way, if you were planning to throw some steak on the braai and pass a few beers around, then the cricketer to call to […]

Washington wants to keep its friends, reports Hugo Young, but on its terms I do not think that many of us, even now, completely understand what has happened to the United States. We saw the pictures, we know the numbers, we heard the president’s vows to smoke Osama bin Laden out of his cave, and […]

BRITISH Airways (BA) has slashed its fares by as much as 23% for flights between Harare and London during the rest of October and November, the official Ziana news agency said. “British Airways appreciates the financial difficulties being faced by Zimbabweans who wish to travel,” BA marketing coordinator Clare Wingfield told the state-run news agency. […]

With no clear idea of where world markets are headed, and as equity prices fall, fund managers have little to say Neil Thomas As local unit-trust investors start to assess the extent of the knock they took over the third quarter, here’s a quote from United States fund manager John Holden: “It’s very difficult as […]

Ntuthuko Maphumulo Reigning league champions Orlando Pirates were the first team from the southern tip of Africa to have won the continental champions’ league, and they will get their chance again in the next edition of the competition. Former champions Sundowns are representing South Africa for the third time in a row, but their campaign […]

The rand looks unlikely ever to recover Sarah Bullen The fall of the rand is terminally depressing. It is like a light drizzle that just keeps on coming until a particularly bad shower reminds us that it’s actually still raining. South Africans are going to have to face up to the reality of living with […]

analysis Sean Jacobs and Jessica Blatt The terrorist attacks in New York and Washington and the United States retaliation in Afghanistan have resulted in an outpouring of patriotism in the US, among African-Americans as much as anyone else. But the crisis has also put African-Americans in some odd and uncomfortable positions. Recent weeks have been […]

DREW FORREST and GLENDA DANIELS, Johannesburg | Friday The fascinating African National Congress document targeting an “ultra-left tendency” in the labour movement and the South African Communist Party is the latest broadside in a decades-old battle in the South African left over the role of trade unions. It revives conflicts in and outside the union […]

David Macfarlane Incensed senior academics at the University of South Africa (Unisa) have now had enough of the shenanigans of their own council and are fighting back. On Thursday they sent an urgent “memorandum of concern” to Minister of Education Kader Asmal, expressing “no confidence” in the council under its present chair, advocate McCaps Motimele. […]

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The president of the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (Nafcoc) has moved the offices of the black business group to the South African Chamber of Commerce (Sacob) headquarters despite claims by senior Nafcoc members that he has been ousted. Last week senior Nafcoc members who are opposed to the organisation’s […]

No one can stay young for ever, but if you’re happy with your body, you’ll always be beautiful BODY LANGUAGE Jeanette Winterson The late Mrs Winterson had a bathing costume made from blackout material. This home-made suit was a descendant of those Victorian beach effects worn by women to conceal their modesty, known in the […]

Matthew de Wet The recent attacks in the United States have placed stock markets under significant pressure. This has opened up a number of opportunities for investors and capital is flowing from the equity markets into the perceived safe havens of money market deposits and bonds. The fact is, however, that interest rates in the […]

MORE than 24 000 people have already died of Aids-related diseases at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital since 1998, hospital officials announced this week. The Sowetan newspaper reported that the mortality rate at the hospital had more than doubled over the past decade, with a recorded increase from six to 15%. Dr Alan Karstaedt, head of […]

The best teams in South Africa are through to the Currie Cup semifinals, writes Andy Capostagno At half time in Durban on Saturday Western Province were leading the Sharks 10-9. It was at this point that an interesting conundrum was raised in the press box: should Province throw the game? For if they had beaten […]

Suzan Chala Dr Confidence Moloko, the deputy chairperson of the African National Congress health committee, has a reputation among his friends and colleagues as a forthright person. Yet it took two days to get him to talk about the HIV/Aids pandemic. Moloko suspected the motive for this interview was to “character assassinate” him. After what […]

Too many teens are forced to leave state-run homes when they are not adequately equipped with life skills Ufrieda Ho For most teenagers 18 is the magical year of driver’s licences, legal beers and the right to vote. But for teens in welfare, 18 is also the year they’re officially adults – ready or not. […]

The Afghanistan squad saw no reason to cancel their Pakistan tour Luke Harding in Peshawar In a scruffy cricket ground in the frontier town of Peshawar, a group of young men with beards are playing cricket. Things are not going well in their homeland: there is drought, famine and American bombardment. On the cricket pitch […]

Analysis Chris McGreal British Prime Minister Tony Blair has called for a “partnership for Africa” in which the West provides money, expertise and economic opportunities, while Africa gets its house in order by ending conflicts and establishing accountable and decent government. For now, the partnership is largely one between Blair and President Thabo Mbeki, who […]